Tattva

Hindus greet each other with Namaste. The two palms are placed together in front of the chest and the head bows whilst saying the word Namaste. This greeting is for all - people younger than us, of our own age, those older than friends, even strangers and us. There are five forms of formal traditional greeting enjoined in the shaastras of which Namaskaram is one. This is understood as prostration but it actually refers to paying homage as we do today when we greet each other with a Namaste.

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Rani Lakshmi Bai, the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi in North India, was one of the great women of the 1857 war of independence, and a symbol of resistance to British rule in India. She was born sometime around 1828 at Kashi and died on 17th June 1858 at Gwalior.

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  सर्व मंगल मांगल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थ साधिके।

sarva maṁgala māṁgalye śive sarvārtha sādhike |

शरण्ये त्र्यंबके देवी नारायणी नमोस्तुते॥

śaraṇye tryaṁbake devī nārāyaṇī namostute || Read the rest of this entry »

The past 515 years have seen a continual struggle between indigenous Traditionalists and indigenous ‘Progressives’. Unlike India, Native Americans did not have a massive population base to sustain their culture. Still it took nearly 400 years to destroy the Native civilization. Tribes were torn apart, families separated and lives lost in the struggle between those Natives committed to their Traditional culture and those Natives that rejected the old ways as useless. Traditionalists were targeted simply for practicing their ancient traditions, speaking their language and worshipping in their native way.

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The Gupta Dynastic age (320-467 A.D.) is regarded by many as the age when the cultural magnificence of ancient India had reached its zenith. This was the age that first marked the rise of international trade that would eventually lead the cartographers of the world to name an entire ocean after a single country. This was the beginning of the allure of India, the allure that would beckon countless explorers to brave the unknown, so that they could have a glimpse of ‘Indie’. This was the age when those great treatises on the arts and sciences, the gifts given by India to the world, were written. This, indeed, was the age that would first give India the worldwide renown of being a temple to humanity.

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“Life is not merely a job, an occupation; life is something extraordinarily wide and profound, it is a great mystery, a vast realm in which we function as human beings. If we merely prepare ourselves to earn a livelihood, we shall miss the whole point of life; and to understand life is much more important than merely to prepare for examinations and become very proficient in mathematics, physics, or what you will.”

— J Krishnamurti, Educator and Philosopher

One wonders why we go through years of schooling. Is it just to fill our minds with a great deal of information, teach ourselves to fit snugly with the demands of the society and learn the skills for merely earning a living? One feels that a lot more is possible with right education. Perhaps there can be an education that can wake up the latent creative spirit in our hearts, light the torch of reason in our minds, and sensitize us to passionately feel the beauty as well as the ugliness of the world around us. Perhaps there can be an education that can prepare the young ones for the long adult life which is an enormously complex affair.

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In olden times in India, there used to be a small kingdom named Smrudhpuri. As the name suggests, it was a very prosperous kingdom.  But things change with course of the time. So was the case with Smrudhpuri. Acute famine struck the place and there were no crops for more than two years. People started starving.

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